Learn Which Medicinal Plants to Gather in the Winter

If you’re lucky enough to have a greenhouse or cold frames, you can pick fresh, green, medicinal plants during winter. Our grocery stores have given us the ability to access beautiful, fresh culinary herbs all winter. This unfortunately, has caused us to overlook the bounty that is all around us, even under a blanket of snow.

Not only is it healthy for us to eat and use the medicines that are available to us during the winter, but it is also healthy for us to do the gathering.

Medicinal Plants to Harvest in Winter

The midwestern part of the United States is experiencing real winter, even as we speak. Temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing for the next week and we have snow on the ground. If you are someone who loves to gather food and medicinal plants from within your community, it could easily seem as though you’re on a forced holiday.

Winter doesn’t have to end your fun. In fact, some of our best options are only now ready for us to gather. Here are a few of my favorites:

Roots

This covers a lot of territory, but as long as the ground isn’t frozen I like to harvest burdock, dandelion, and horseradish as the snow is flying. These plants are best when the above ground plant has died back to the ground, pushing all the energy of the plant into the root. This makes late fall and early winter the prime time for harvest.

Pine (Pinus spp.)

During the Christmas season, many writers turned their attention to pine medicine. You may have heard about its use in a hand-made bath salt, but there is much more to be had from those beautiful pine needles.

Pine tree leaves (we call them needles) have been used for arthritis and gout since the time of Hippocrates. Just a handful tossed into a bath can bring relief to most any kind of soreness.

Poplar Buds (Populus spp.)

These buds can be gathered anytime now between the start of winter until bud break in the spring. If you have a poplar or cottonwood tree, look for the small, pointy ends of each stem. These buds are high in resins that are antiseptic and contain compounds that can stimulate local white blood cell activity.

Teas and tinctures made with these buds work on the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts, having a soothing and expectorant action. The poplar species also contains salicylic acid, the compound we know today as aspirin. It has a long association in natural and Western medicine alike.

We know this plant’s anti-fungal properties through our use of propolis, which is made from the resins collected from the Populus and Pinus species by the honeybee.

For Laryngitis and Bronchitis – Make a tincture by pouring 100-proof alcohol over the buds and allowing this to steep for 4-6 weeks. This tincture can be placed in a spray bottle and used to spritz onto an angry throat.

For Eczema and Psoriasis – Make a salve from an oil infused with the buds. (Make it just like the tincture above, only substitute extra virgin olive oil for the alcohol.) Rub onto almost any kind of rash.

Get out there and enjoy a brisk walk in the cold and see what you can find outdoors!

About Dawn Combs

Dawn is a wife, mother, farmer, author, ethnobotanist, professional speaker, and educator. She has over 20 years of ethnobotanical experience, is a certified herbalist, and has a B.A. in Botany and Humanities/Classics. Dawn is co-owner of Mockingbird Meadows Farm. Her books include Conceiving Healthy Babies and Heal Local.

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Comments

Dawn,
I’ve been following your articles for several years but I’ve never written. I want you to know that I have saved many of your articles. This one about gathering certain roots in the winter is one I’ve kept.
It is time for me to stop by and say “Thank You!” I am relatively new to learning to live naturally and organically. I’ve been on this journey only two years and will be on it the rest of my life. It has literally saved my life. Long story that I will not bore you with. Just know that for every email you get showing appreciation, there are thousands more who feel the same way but won’t write. You are doing a service to folks like me. I hope you find a bit of encouragement somewhere in this email. You are an encouragement to me.

Mary,
I’m sure I can speak for Matt and Betsy as well as myself when I say, thank you so much for your note. It’s a BIG deal to hear that what any of us are doing is useful to other people in making their lives more vibrant and healthy! The path that my husband and I have chosen to support our family, is not an easy one… there are days that we are discouraged and wonder what we’ve done to ourselves. Just as we feel that way, a note or a word of encouragement from someone we’ve touched reminds us why we do what we do.

With that said, folks like us can only supply the information. It’s up to you to decide what’s right for you and then do the hard work of taking care of yourself. Be sure that while you are giving us a much appreciated pat on the back that you are also recognizing your own hard work as often as possible! All my best for your continued success and let me know here or on my farm blog if there is anything I can do to help!

I love this information! I have been on my own search for knowledge on herbs and plants for medicinal reasons! I am always thirsting for more research!
I also nominated you for the unique blogger award on WordPress..
If you look up Zen Body Cafe you will find your questions!

About Matt & Betsy

Matt and Betsy are passionate about living naturally and building a like-minded community focused on the sustainable lifestyle.

DIY Natural is about rediscovering the traditional value of doing things yourself, doing them naturally, and enjoying the benefits. Welcome to the movement! (read more)

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